DayofPal– The Gaza Strip has now become a home for the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world after more than a year of Israel’s genocidal war on the enclave, UN said on the International Day of Persons With Disabilities.
“Gaza now has the highest number of children amputees per capita anywhere in the world — many losing limbs and undergoing surgeries without even anaesthesia,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday in remarks read out by his deputy at a Cairo conference aimed at accelerating humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Philippe Lazzarini, Head of UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), citing the World Health Organization, one in four people injured during the war sustained life-changing injuries and will need rehabilitation services, including care for amputations and spinal cord injuries.
Lazzarini described Gaza that has been under prolonged war for over a year as a home facing pandemic of disabilities with over 12,000 amputation operations were done due to the intensive Israeli air strikes and Israeli army’s use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas across the Gaza enclave.
Lazzarini also casts light on the people needing special care “who have suffered in silence” during this assault, noting that one in five families surveyed before October 7 had at least one person with disabilities.
Calling the situation in war-torn Gaza “appalling and apocalyptic”, the UN chief Guterres warned that conditions faced by Palestinians in the territory may amount to the “gravest international crimes”.
Guterres highlighted the devastating toll of the Israeli assault and the urgent need for international immediate action.
“Malnutrition is rampant… Famine is imminent. Meanwhile, the health system has collapsed,” he added, criticising the severe restrictions on aid delivery and calling the current levels “grossly insufficient”.
Only 65 aid trucks per day had been able to enter Gaza this past month, compared to a pre-war average of 500, according to UNRWA’s count.
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